The tech giant has paid researchers and professors from universities around the country stipends of $5,000 to $400,000 for dozens of research papers to help the company battle against regulators, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Some of the papers, which Google uses to influence government officials, don’t disclose that the company funded them.

University of Illinois law professor Paul Heald said he got $18,830 from Google for a project on copyrights — but his 2012 paper failed to mention the tech behemoth’s involvement.

In the past, Google officials have shopped around for researchers who might be willing to pen academic papers that support the company’s positions — and has even paid for professors to travel to sit down with government aides and officials, a former Google lobbyist told the Journal.

The company has come under investigation for its business practices, most recently in Europe, where it was slapped with a record $2.71 billion fine last month for using its search engine to promote its own comparison shopping service over others. Google has denied the accusations.

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Some of the research papers Google has funded argue that the company should be able to collect data on consumers — or say that it hasn’t unfairly harmed competitors.

“Ever since Google was born out of Stanford’s Computer Science department, we’ve maintained strong relations with universities and research institutes, and have always valued their independence and integrity,” the company said.

“We’re happy to support academic researchers across computer science and policy topics, including copyright, free expression and surveillance, and to help amplify voices that support the principles of an open internet.”